


Human

by Arcaya



Category: Watchmen (2009)
Genre: Gen, Guilt, Post-Karnak, Remorse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-28
Updated: 2015-04-28
Packaged: 2018-03-26 03:06:14
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,227
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3834685
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Arcaya/pseuds/Arcaya
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What makes us human? Three years after the attacks, Jon decides to revisit Earth, and the man who forced him to leave.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Human

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this in 2009 on my old ff.net account and LJ, but I've decided to repost it here. Forgive any potential cheesiness, it was a long time ago!

Time is relative.

On Earth, it had been little more than three years since he'd left. To Jon, it had been immeasurable. Time only existed in that sense on Earth, and since his departure, he'd long since abandoned the idea of time, measured within the two hands of a clock face. He could have only gone as far to say, that when he materialized back into Earth's orbit that day, some 3 years later, it felt like a long time had passed.

Jon stood, effortlessly ominous blue glow that so many had come to associate with the fear of death and mass destruction now darting off the walls of the building he'd chosen to re-assemble himself in. He'd given some thought in where he would go. This visit, brief, though it may be, was purely for his own satisfaction. A long lost sense of want revisiting him. A want, a desire, to see if the peace still remained.

He stood now, at the head of Adrian's bedroom. The repaired glass ceiling and additional necessary clutter indicated Adrian probably spent a lot more time here in Karnak now, than he had done previously. Jon gave little thought as to why. He could only assume, Adrian did not wish to face the world in which he'd 'saved' so often, anymore.

Adrian lay on top of the bed covers, curled into a fetal position. Eyes snapped tightly shut, blonde hair falling over his face. Jon noted the extra lines on Adrian's face, the hollow cheekbones. His skin shimmered in the unearthly light. Tears, sweat. Fingers encased fistfuls of purple bed sheets. In sleep, he seemed little more than a frightened child.

Staring back at him, Jon found it almost laughable that Adrian, supposedly the world's smartest man, could have ever considered himself an equal to Jon, for the emotion Adrian was now exhibiting was so real, and so human. Jon knew, a being with this level of sensitivities to their own conscience, pride, fear- was far too fragile of mind to ever reach him on the same level.

Pain etched every muscle of Adrian's sweat dampened face, his eyelids squeezed shut, teeth partially gritted. As Jon had told him before-

"You're just a man."

There had been moments in Jon's past, where he could have entertained the idea of 'meeting his match', so it were, with Adrian. The cold nature Adrian had put forward for so many years had seemed to embody everything but that of a true personality, something Jon had found himself relating to in himself.

He could see now, that was not the case.

"Adrian." Jon spoke, at last, his usual soft, ambiguous monotone echoing through the room.

Within an instant, green eyes snapped open to meet the white orbs of the other.

For the briefest of moments, a seldom seen expression of confusion, and fear, cast itself over Adrian's face, before vanishing into a forced look of intrigue. The expression, however, had not been overlooked.

"Jon," Adrian spoke, his voice coming off just that bit weaker than it used to. Inwardly, he cringed at the display of weakness, but realised, a stronger feeling had taken over. For the first time in 3 years, Adrian had felt the sensation of relief, a subconscious lie telling him that everything would be OK. Everything would be OK now Jon had returned. No longer would he have to suffer the guilt, the loneliness, the pain, alone.

"Hello Adrian." Jon said, quietly. "I see the peace here on earth still remains."

Perhaps it was the lack of emotion in Jon's words that finally cut Adrian's last nerve.

"Things have never been better here." Adrian murmured, quietly, choked by the overwhelming urge to break down, right there and then.

Jon didn't reply. His concern for human emotions, particularly that of Adrian's, had long since vanished into a field of indifference, yet his observations were still in tact.

"You seem anguished." 

Adrian didn't respond to the statement. Half sickened by the reality that people were beginning to notice, half basked in the amazing glory of having another being realise the horror that had began to torture his every thought.

"Jon..."

Adrian stood up, his form seemed to be trembling from head to toe as he spoke.

"I... can't stop it."

"You can't stop what, Adrian?"

"These thoughts. The images. The...the sounds. I play them over and over in my head. Every day. Every night. They won't leave." Adrian felt his voice break ever so slightly as he spoke, carried away in the moment of relief, neglecting the usual steel front of emotionless strength.

"I could make them stop." Jon muttered.

"You could?" Adrian's voice now flooded with the sound of desperation, as he approached Jon, an almost hopeful smile beginning to form upon his face.

"Yes, Adrian, I could." 

Adrian felt a hesitant hand reach up to the other's glowing arm. The tingling, prickling sensation of Jon's skin sending shocks throughout his whole body. He'd longed to speak to him again, if only for a few seconds, to feel a connection with another living being, once again.

"How? How can you make it stop?" Adrian asked, green eyes filled with the childish want one might have associated with wanting a new toy. If anything, Jon found it pitiful.

"I could kill you, turn your brain into mush, obliterate your thoughts forever." Jon muttered, bluntly.

The hope and want dissolved from those green eyes, forming almost instantly into tears.

Adrian knew now. Even Jon couldn't help him. He felt his knees give, his hand slipping down Jon's arm, until falling away completely, as he dropped to the floor, reduced now, to quiet sobbing against it.

A vague sense of long forgotten pity seemed to overcome Jon at that moment. An illuminated hand reached out, and pressed itself against Adrian's shivering back. He knew it would take more than that to comfort him, but then, he knew nothing ever truly would.

"Did you really expect to go on living your life in peace?" Jon asked, rhetorically. It was hard to tell whether his words were condescending or consoling. "Adrian, you should have realised what this would do to you. I'd have expected you would."

"It was the right thing, Jon." Adrian looked up, his face shimmering from the tears he'd so reluctantly allowed to fall from his eyes. "I expected to feel like I'd helped people. Not this... not...this."

"You did help people." Jon stated.

Words escaped Adrian's mind now. There was nothing left to say. Nothing left to explain, nothing left to disguise. Dead end.

"How does it feel, Adrian?"

"How does what feel?" Adrian asked, softly, his eyes squinting as he looked up to the other, defeated.

"Losing your humanity. How does it feel to live without a soul?"

Adrian's eyes narrowed slightly. "I'd have expected you would know that already, Jon."

"The difference being, Adrian, that you are human." Jon muttered.

The blue light intensified, and Jon's form began to fade with each illuminated beam.

"No- Jon, don't leave..." Adrian said, his voice coming off just a bit too pleading for his liking. He pushed himselff up from the ground, one arm outstretched. He knew his attempt would be futile.

"Goodbye Adrian."

The beam of light first expanded, then sank, and he was gone.

This time, he would not return.


End file.
